8. The best way for the country to protect itself...

...is to tell the creditors to go fuck themselves. Austerity or tax hikes to repay public debt, or to pay interest on it, is a transfer of wealth from the productive lower and middle classes to the parasitic capitalist class. My advice to all debtor countries is not to pay their debts. That will instantly make a lot more cash available for things that will actually help people and improve the economy.